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Like most child stars,
Hilary Duff's career started with a role that made her a household name. For her, that was Lizzie McGuire, who she started playing on the
Disney show in 2001.
But, her experience playing the role wasn't always fab, with Hilary keeping it all the way real in a recent interview, calling it "tortuous" at times. "As torturous as it has been at some points in my life to be Lizzie McGuire, I think that when that show came out, it was such a part of who I was, I didn't feel like I was playing a part," she told
PrideSource. "The writers all knew me so well and were writing things that were happening in my life and things that I would say, and I was dressing exactly like I wanted. It was so me."
When she was asked exactly what made the filming of it so "tortuous," Hilary clarified that comment, saying it was her experience off the set and not on it that made it so. "I don't think during the filming it was torturous. I loved it during the filming," she said. "I just didn't know what a success the show was gonna be, and after that - four years, five years after that - and I was
still Lizzie McGuire to people and that was super annoying. Now it's not. I don't care now. I'm grateful for it."
That's fair. A lot of child stars struggle with breaking away from the character they've been identified with for so long, but, it's nice to see Hilary can appreciate where she came from now.
Hilary's off set struggles with her Lizzie McGuire character further explain why we didn't see her for a while after the show was over, though. She took a brief break from the biz at the time, saying the endless cycles of making movies, making records and touring got to be too much for her and she stopped enjoying it.
"Everyone thought I was just absolutely nuts because I was really successful and making a lot of money," she continued. "And it
was scary, because there was no guarantee that my career was still gonna be there. I think, personally, it was very healthy, and I'm proud of where I am now. My new record being top 5 on Billboard after working on it for eight years - I'm proud of that. I don't need to be No. 1. I need to just do things that fulfill me and make me happy and hopefully connect with people at a certain level."
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Now that Hilary is all grown up and back in the business, she dished on what Lizzie would be like all grown up too. "She'd be pretty rad," Hilary said. "She would have stayed in school a little bit longer, and I feel like she'd be a sous chef or working at an architectural firm trying to make her way up but still f**king up at all times. (Laughs). I feel like she'd be cool - she wasn't always a nerd! She was just, like, a nice girl. I feel like she'd still be that same way, but I think she would be getting drunk and doing normal things that everybody does." Lizzie grown up and drunk? Can you imagine?!
(Waits for the memes.)